In the field of stationary asset monitoring, networks of wireless sensors are often used to monitor the status of sets of stationary assets co-located at one or more sites. For example, sensors that are part of an industrial site sensing network can monitor one or more conditions associated with equipment deployed in an industrial complex. For example, the data originates from a collection of wireless/wired sensors that may be monitoring stationary assets, e.g., tanks, piping systems, processing systems, fluid and gas systems, and electrical systems.
Furthermore, for a site such as an oilfield, various sensors may be deployed in order to monitor any number of oilfield-related assets. For example, known sensor types include fluid level detectors that are often deployed for monitoring the amount of oil or condensate within holding tanks. In many situations, determination of fluid level inside of a vessel is accomplished by installing a sensor device inside the vessel with wiring connected to a collection point outside of the vessel from which the data are often forwarded to a local or remote monitoring system. The sensors can be based on many phenomena, such as position of floats on top of the fluid level interface(s), measurement of fluid pressure which can be converted to level height, ultrasonic travel time measurement to the fluid level, microwave, optical travel time sensors or time delay reflectometry techniques. In addition, flow meters are commonly deployed on pipelines and compressor monitors are deployed to monitor the status and health of compressors. In addition, various sensors can be deployed at the wellhead for monitoring tubing, casing, or surface flowline pressure or to monitor and control valves.
Typically, for field health and data notifications, daily updates are generally acceptable. Oilfield custom is to provide a 6:00 AM, report to engineers and supervisors when they arrive in the office. For a non-automated location, a simple 24-hour summary of production and current system status (pressure, tank levels) is normally sufficient. Even for typical automated onshore locations it is unusual to expect a morning report of provide more than hourly data.
Likewise, for site monitoring in the agriculture industry, stationary assets, such as water or fuel tanks may be remotely monitored and configured to alert service personnel when refill becomes necessary. Furthermore, geofences, or the like, may be continuously monitored to alert supervisors of the presence of trespassers, and/or field personnel.
Fields that include a large number and diversity of stationary assets may be distributed over vast tracts of land and are often distributed in extremely dangerous or inhospitable environments. Thus, modern asset monitoring networks deploy complex and costly wireless sensors and/or SCADA control elements that may be integrated into a wide area networks (WANs) or even the Internet/worldwide web. Often, due to the complexity of these systems highly-trained service personnel are needed for installation, diagnosis and repair of the on-site sensors and power systems. Furthermore, present systems require bulky and cumbersome mounting systems in addition to large area solar panels in order to provide a suitable source of power.